


Gilmore's Glorious Coffee, I Guess?

by alphabetray



Series: beaujester [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Gen, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Others Mentioned - Freeform, beaujester centric, but all the other ships i care about, this was meant to be like 800 words
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 12:06:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17203118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphabetray/pseuds/alphabetray
Summary: Beau's just left home and is struggling to find her feet in the implausible city of Exandria. Obviously that's when her boss decides they need someone new to join the family, someone who will send Beau right back into the confusion she's been trying to escape.AKA slices of life from the crew of Gilmore's Glorious Coffee, a poorly named shop where everyone seems to be gay for some reason though experts believe it may just be the author's taste in ships.Unedited.





	Gilmore's Glorious Coffee, I Guess?

"Hey Cad!" called Beau, as she finished wiping down the last table.

The café was empty and she'd switched the sign around a quarter of an hour ago, still decently after their stated closing time. The carpeted floor had been vacuumed, the tables had been wiped and all the old fashioned tea stuff Cad liked had been put away. However she couldn't go home until Caduceus came and gave her the say so. It wasn't like Gilmore, her boss, would give that much of a fuck since she'd done her job right but she'd gotten into shit before for leaving without getting him to do a onceover and she did not need his disappointed face because fuck did Shaun Gilmore do a good disappointed face. 

Someone knocked at the door and she rolled her eyes before going over and pointing to where the ‘closed’ sign was prominently displayed on the glass window. The blue tiefling before her grinned in a pretty disarming way.

“Hi! I saw your shop and I was thinking that maybe I could get a drink or something I don’t know it’s really cold and it looks warm in there and maybe you’d make an exception I don’t know I’m cold and my weasel is also cold and he’s really cute and lets you pet him.” The tiefling had an accent that Beau couldn’t quite place and eyes that seemed to hold more than their fair share of mischief. They certainly had a glint to them. Fucking customers.

“Sorry we’re closed. There’s a starbucks down the road.” If she hadn’t packed everything up she might have been more lenient but she had literally just finished putting all the shit she could use to make a drink with in its very specific spots and fuck if she wasn’t doing more washing up. “Come back tomorrow.”

The tiefling pouted. “Okay, okay, okay. What if I told you that I had a friend and he had a magic cat and if I asked him super nicely he’d let you pet his magic cat?”

“I’m sorry I literally cannot let you in we are closed.”

“Not even for a super duper cool magic cat?” the woman asked, persistent till the last.

Beau shook her head.

The woman’s smile somehow became knowing. She laughed lightly, petting her weasel before quite literally skipping off. Beau raised her eyebrows in a pretty baffled way.

She spent a while pointlessly checking if all the lights were off, trying to find her missing manager. Another quarter of an hour passed before he came ambling into the storeroom where she was staring blankly at the inventory.

“Oh! I completely forgot you were still here. I was in the garden. I had a pretty great idea for a new blend, I hope Mister Gilmore lets me add it to the menu.”

“Yeah, sounds great. Can you check that everything’s chill so I can get home?” she asked, feeling torn beyond fondness and exasperation.

“Yeah. I’m sure it’s great. I’ll see you tomorrow – “ he paused, suddenly blinking a lot and staring into the middle distance – “with the new hire. That’s nice, there’s someone new joining the team.”

Beau nodded. “Yep. I was aware of that there are like eight people who work here. I will see you then.”

“Goodnight,” he said in his really emotionally comforting deep voice. She raised her hand in an awkward wave before leaving, setting the door chimes off. They’d been enchanted to sound like rain and it was pretty cool, she had to admit.

*******

The next morning was overcast, clouds roiling overhead with all the promises of a storm. Yasha would be off then, hopefully the new person would be able to cover her shift. The cycle to work went well. She was too early for the rush hour. It almost made waking up at 6:30 worth it. Almost. She locked her bike up outside Gilmore’s Glorious Coffee (the name was apparently a work in progress but had been exactly that since she’d started working there a year ago and presumably for the years before as well). The rain sounds played as she entered and the man himself looked up, his customer service smile fixed firmly on his face. The breakfast crowd would arrive in about half an hour.

“Sup Gil. How’s shit going?” She’d established pretty early on that so long as she was polite to customers and did her job she could get away with whatever when it came to her boss. He was good like that.

Gilmore laughed. “Oh, same as ever. It’ll be you and Keyleth on this morning. I’ve told her to keep an eye on our latest hire so please, try your best not to distract her too much.”

Beau shrugged. She went into the backroom, pulling her apron over her head and retying her hair ribbons. While she normally wasn’t on customer duty, Keyleth was somehow even worse with people than she was so she figured she’d probably be taking over. It was pretty impressive how someone who was so tall and so fucking hot could be so bad at talking to people. She was definitely impressed by Keyleth. Very impressed.

She and Gilmore continued setting up in relative silence. He’d put on some of his music which ranged from popular shit to stuff she’d never heard of in an eclectic and discordant combination. Vex, Keyleth’s equally unfairly attractive fiancé, arrived about quarter of an hour later.

“No Keyleth?” she asked, smiling at Beau.

She shrugged. “Should be in soon. You want something to drink?”

Vex sauntered up to the counter, leaning on it with one arm.

“You’re paying for it,” said Beau, all too familiar with this game.

“Oh, darling,” said Vex and gave one of her fucking devastating winks. “I’m sure your boss won’t mind. Will you, Gil? I practically work here at this point and I can try and talk You Know Who into coming round a touch more. All for one free drink a day? Two tops?”

Gilmore laughed. “Vax’ildan is perfectly aware that he is welcome whenever. How’s this? You pay full price and I’ll mark off a drink from your frequent buyers card. Only a few more and then, my dear Vex’ahlia, you can have a free drink.”

Beau stepped back and began getting together Vex’s usual. She’d get something for sure. Probably would wind up paying full wack if Shaun was handling the haggling. He was way better at it than she was. Something about cute girls who were off limits winking at her.

The door sounded and she glanced up, hoping to see Keyleth. No such luck. The blue tiefling from the day before entered, her dress bouncing around her thighs as she bounded up to the counter.

“Hi! I’m Jester! I was told that I had to come here for my first day of work and I might have gotten slightly distracted because you’re working already also I’m super sorry about last night I maybe got the names slightly confused and I’m like completely new in town and got lost and I was kinda super cold and I was like ‘oh shit Jester you look like an asshole’ so I left.”

“I uh – yeah. I’m Beau. That’s Gilmore. Keyleth isn’t here yet. Hi.”

The door went off again and Keyleth rushed in, Cad following more sedately behind her. “Sorry we’re late,” he said as Keyleth caught her breath. “Lost track of time.”

“Yeah I’m super sorry. Is this Jester? Hi! I’m Keyleth. Hey Beau! Hey babe!”

She paused to peck Vex on the lips before rushing behind the bar and tying her hair into a bun. “I’m so sorry I’m late, Gilmore, Caddy and I were working on this new blend and it tastes great but it’s not quite all the way there yet and – “

“Hello Keyleth. Why don’t you start showing Jester here around. It’s not a worry, there’s been no great rush this morning. Breathe, relax.

“Hey Keyleth.” Beau waved at her awkwardly.

Keyleth all but pulled Jester into the backroom and Beau could loosely hear the sounds of Keyleth’s awkward enthusiasm meeting Jester’s.

Gilmore turned back to Vex. “Full price but I’ll mark off two tokens instead of one.”

“Buy one get the next one free.”

“Buy one get the next one half price.”

“Gil…, for me?”

“That’s a better deal than most people would get, my dear.”

Vex paused. “Better than nothing, I suppose. Deal.”

She pulled out her wallet and smacked a handful of copper onto the bar. “And a tip, for my favourite member of staff.” She heard the sound of something rattling in the tip jar. “That’s for Beau, Gil, so you make sure she gets it.”

“Of course, Vex’ahlia. Beau?”

Beau brought over the novelty mug Vex favoured – white china with a picture of a bear on it. As in the animal, not a man.

“Thanks darling. You have a good day.”

Vex walked over to the armchairs by the well stocked book shelves and settled in, pulling a paper off the table and flicking through it while sipping her drink. The door sounded again and the café began to fill up, people making their way up to the counter. She handled making the drinks – thankfully it wasn’t yet busy enough to get overwhelming – while Gilmore took the client side. Eventually Keyleth and Jester came out and she joined Gilmore taking orders, leaving them to actually serve up the drinks. Scanlan, the random gnome who had somehow convinced Gil that letting him play music in the café would be a good idea, set up at about 8:30. The morning rush was always a big thing but the four of them were handling it pretty well, Cad in the back cooking. The smell of freshly baked croissants was wafting out and he appeared every hour or so with a new batch of food.

Jester seemed to be doing pretty OK. They kept coffee machines and the like to a minimum, Gilmore preferring his stuff to be made by hand, but everything was easy enough to get the hang of. Keyleth had been working at Gilmore’s for a year plus and was considered one of the old hands so was definitely more than qualified to show Jester the ropes. By 11 the deluge had slowed to a trickle of dog waters and stay at home parents. Caleb, the regular who was apparently a professor at Exandria U,  and Percy, his colleague or something, had settled in tapping furiously on their laptops and occasionally muttering to each other. Nott, Caleb’s sticky fingered daughter or something, was inching slowly closer to the bar and Gil’s brass buttons. Beau glared at her and she shunted her chair an inch closer, making defiant eye contact. Vex had left a few hours ago, probably headed off to work. Whatever it was she did. Something to do with an archery range.

Gilmore touched her shoulder. “I’ll be just in the back if you need me. Paperwork sadly is in need of doing.”

He walked off and Nott shunted back to Caleb and Percy’s table, looking disappointed. Keyleth came up to stand by her and smiled at her. Despite all of Beau’s efforts, her mouth quirked up into a matching expression.

“Hey Beau,” said Jester with a grin.

“Yeah?” There was no one ordering right now so she turned to face the tiefling. “Everything good?”

“Do you maybe have a little crush on Keyleth?” she asked. Everything on her face looked like pure mischief, from the widening smile to the sparkle in her eyes.

“Nah.”

Keyleth laughed, overhearing them. “Just wait until you see her try to talk to Yasha. She’s our co-worker but she does something else every time there’s a storm so she probably won’t be back for a bit.”

The door sounded and Beau flipped them off before turning around. A half elf who was fucking shorter than her thank fuck came in and walked up to the counter.

“Hey, could I get a uh could I get a mint tea please?” he asked.

“Jester? One mint tea. Anything else for you, sir?”

“Is Shaun in?” he asked, sounding hesitant.

“Shau- oh. Gilmore. I’m sorry, sir, but it’s company policy not to give out anyone’s schedules.”

“Ok yeah don’t worry just uh if you see him tell him Vax was looking for him?”

“Oh shit! Vex’s brother?” She scanned him up and down. Yep, definitely Vex’s brother. “Yeah, he just went in the back. Hey, Gil! It’s Vex’s brother.”

The bead curtain to the back parted and Gilmore came out, smoothing down his clothes and beaming from ear to ear. “My dear Vax’ildan. So good to see you.”

Beau slid his drink over the counter. Keyleth winked at him, and he waved at her.

“Hey Shaun, hey Kiki. Do you want to go for a walk or something, I don’t know.”

“We’ll be great here, Gilmore. You boys have fun!” Keyleth shooed them off, Vax awkwardly still holding the mug of tea. Beau figured if Gilmore cared about it he’d bring it back.

“That’s Vex’s brother?” Beau asked, faintly baffled by the whole interation.

Keyleth nodded. “Yep! He and Gilmore met at my Winter’s Crest party a month ago and they really got on well. I wondered if Vax would ever come and follow it up. I guess Vex must have talked him round. I bet she thinks that if they date she’ll get free drinks.”

“He was super cute,” said Jester, leaning in. “They’d be such a romantic pair like Mr Gilmore’s all successful and wears super bright clothes and maybe Vex’s brother isn’t and yea.”

“I got like ten percent of that but yeah sure,” Beau said and turned to the next customer.

Molly showed up a few hours later, Fjord and Pike in tow, and the three of them tapped out for lunch.

Keyleth turned to the two of them. “So Beau and I normally go to this sandwich place. Do you want to come with us Jester?”

Beau almost said something but bit her tongue. She enjoyed the time alone with Keyleth, talking about the cool stuff she did with animal conservation but it would probably be pretty rude to tell Jester to fuck off and she was trying to get better at that.

As they walked down the road, Jester chattered incessantly. She’d had a weasel in the hood of her coat the entire time, who Keyleth immediately began cuddling with and fawning over before starting rambling on about Vex’s dog Trinket. The phone was out and the two of them were just scrolling through pictures, leaving Beau to walk alone in silence.

“So, you know the guy who came in when we left? Fjord? He was super cute. All big and muscular, just like in the stories. Is he maybe single do you know?” Beau’s ears quirked at that and she winced.

“He’s a part timer. He’s a cool dude but he’s got some weird shit going on. Also he’s fucking Avantika. You don’t know her, she’s fuckin hot but would not want to get on her bad side.”

Keyleth looked at her. “Beau. That was pretty harsh.”

Jester sighed, looking disappointed. “How come everyone who works with us is in a relationship? You guys are all super attractive and I’m really single.”

“Also, Beau, Fjord and Avantika ended things pretty badly so don’t bring it up around him,” Keyleth said, reprimanding her.

Beau shrugged. They walked on for a while in silence, Jester fiddling with her weasel and smiling once again. The Invulnerable Vagrant was one of the best delis in the neighbourhood, even if it didn’t look like much with its dark green walls and heavily shrouded windows. As they pushed open the door, the smell of cured meats and cheeses and fresh baguettes wafted out. One of the Pumat Sols waved at them.

“Hello there! What can I get for you three today. Our specials are on the board up there but I would highly recommend the chorizo and mozzarella.”

They made their choices, settling in to eat.

“I’m single, by the way,” Beau said suddenly. “Just, like. You said everyone was taken. I’m not. I’m not asking you out or anything, I just thought I should tell you that I’m also single.”

Jester grinned and mumbled something unintelligible around a mouthful of sandwich, taking a drink of the milk she’d ordered for some reason. Keyleth took a more reasonable bite of hers.

“I’m not single. I’m going to marry Vex and live with Trinket and it’ll be super great. You guys are both invited to the wedding.”

“You’re literally just marrying her for her dog, aren’t you?” Beau asked, smiling at her friend.

“Yup. Also her shower is better than mine.”

“Twue love!” Jester managed to get out around her lunch.

******

The weeks passed much as they had before. Jester picked up on things quickly and seemed to slot into the Beau Keyleth duo easily. Beau had to admit, it was pretty satisfying to have someone else who also got completely flustered by Vex. She was now accompanied by her brother on an almost daily basis, he and Gilmore vanishing off or just settling into the corner of the café and talking to each other with a smiling intensity that Beau craved.

Keyleth was ill and it was just her and Jester headed for lunch together. According to Vex, it was just a cold but she’d be off for a little while. Yasha had called Gilmore and said she’d be back the next day so. Thankfully they wouldn’t be understaffed for long but that morning had been a fun experience with just the two of them. Gil had helped out but it was still a lot.

“Hey Beau!” Jester said, dragging out her name. “We should maybe try somewhere else this time. Pumat’s is great but I want sweet food.”

Beau glanced at her. “We literally work in a café. You can literally just take Cad’s shit, he doesn’t give a fuck.”

“Okay, okay, okay. But – Caddy doesn’t make bear claws like they do near where I live. They’ve got like loads of cinnamon and sugar and they’re amazing and we should go get some. Please, Beau.” Jester stared at her with trembling violet eyes.

Beau winced. The tiefling had certainly grown on her over the past few weeks and she knew exactly what buttons to press to get Beau to give in. “Fine. Do you have any idea where might sell bear claws with cinnamon. Again, you could literally ask Cad to make you some and he probably would. He thinks you’re great.”

“Yes I do! I googled it before we left so you’d have to say yes.”

Jester grabbed her hand and tugged her through the lunchtime crowd, Beau stumbling after her with a fond smile on her face. She found herself being jerked into a bakery, a small affair with glass display shelves holding some pretty nice smelling shit. Bread was displayed all over the back walls and they did actually sell baguettes though they didn’t look in the same league as Pumat’s. Jester leaned right over the counter looking excited beyond all belief.

“Hi! I was wondering if maybe you had bear claws with cinnamon? They have them near where I used to live and they were really good and if you do not then you should probably consider getting some because I bet you would sell loads and make loads of money.” The poor man behind the counter looked slightly terrified as he reached into the display and pulled out a tray.

“We – uh – we do sell bear claws? I can add cinnamon if you want?”

“Hmmm. What do you think, Beau?” Jester turned to her with that bright look in her eyes.

“Uh yeah sure. They smell good. How much for two?”

“One silver please,” he said, sounding faintly less overwhelmed.

She handed him a coin and he went into the back, coming out with a shaker which he shook over two of the bear claws. Beau grabbed one and handed the other to Jester.

“Do you want me to pay you back, Beau?” Jester asked, before she bit into hers.

“Wha? Nah, it’s chill.”

“Thank you, Beau,” she said, smiling at her.

“So you like just moved into the area or something?” she asked, remembering Jester had mentioned not knowing her way around a few times.

Jester nodded, mouth full of pastry. She swallowed it. “I used to live with my mama but our landlord said I had to leave because I might have embarrassed him super badly or something I don’t know. And mama’s work isn’t like totally legal so I couldn’t let him call the police and I didn’t want her to go to jail so I left and now I live here and I know you and Keyleth now.”

“Shit, Jester. That sucks a lot. I’m sorry. I uh. Similar thing but my parents sucked so I left. Haven’t spoken to them in a few months.”

Jester pulled her into a tight hug, which Beau awkwardly returned. As Jester’s surprisingly strong arms held her, she found herself relaxing into it until they were literally just in a random café holding each other. A lump swelled up in the back of Beau’s throat and a heat started prickling in her eyes, like she was some lost kid who’d never been hugged before. She felt grateful that Jester couldn’t see her face.

Eventually she let go and pushed Jester off, clearing her throat like she hadn’t just been whelmed by emotion. “Yeah, so. We should probably get back I guess?”

“We’ve got like half an hour more, don’t we? And I saw Vax down the road when we left so Mr Gilmore is going to be really distracted.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Also because Fjord told me to tell you he’s throwing a party at his place and you should totally come because otherwise it’ll be all the couples and that would suck. A lot.” Jester seemed like she was also holding something back, like she also had a reason to be desperately trying to change the conversation.

“I – yeah. That sounds fun. Sure.”

Jester paused, the smile suddenly dropping. “Hey Beau? How come you flirt with Keyleth and Vex and Yasha even though I don’t know Yasha and Scanlan’s maybe girlfriend whose name I don’t know because she’s always in a rush and also Keg and the health inspector Avantika when she came in but not me?”

“I uh – I don’t know, Jester? I don’t really flirt seriously? Like Yasha’s married and Keyleth and Vex will probably be married and Pike is complicated but I’m not like seriously into her? Also Avantika was pretty cool. Like it’s not a serious thing, it’s just people who I think are hot and fit my type? And you’re hot but you’re like my age. And I don’t really want a one night stand with you.”

“Thank you, Beau,” she said. “I guess I just feel a little tiny bit overwhelmed because we’re the only single people and I don’t want there to be something wrong with me and that’s why I’m single.”

“Nah there’s nothing wrong with you. You’re great. I’m single but there’s nothing wrong with me. Not everything needs to be about relationships.”

“I just think it might be nice to have a boyfriend, I don’t know.”

Beau spat out a mouthful of her water. “Sorry I just – for a moment there I kinda forgot that straight people existed.”

Jester shrugged but didn’t say anything.

“Do you – you keep flirting with Fjord. Do you like Fjord?” She was doing this. She was having a deep conversation about serious shit and relationships and she hadn’t completely fucked it up yet. Possibly she’d mildly insulted Jester but hopefully her new friend wasn’t the sort to take offense to a comment about straight people.

“I don’t know. He kissed me a week ago and it was kind of nice? But it wasn’t like I thought it would be. It just felt kind of flat and then he had this whole maybe flirting I don’t know thing with Caleb the professor dude who smells pretty bad and I don’t know what he wants. I thought kissing was meant to be super exciting and you feel amazing but it just wasn’t.”

Beau took a proper sip of her water. “Do you think that maybe you don’t like him as much as you thought?”

“I don’t know. Can I tell you a secret?”

“Y-yeah?” No one had really trusted her with any kind of big deal secret before. This was probably the deepest conversation she’d had with anyone.

“I’d never kissed anyone before last week. I’ve seen loads of dicks but it was my first time kissing someone.” Jester’s eyes were wide. “I maybe used to sneak in and watch my momma while she was working sometimes so that if anything went wrong I could beat them up so I saw loads of dicks and I bet Fjord has a good dick but I don’t really want to see it. Even though he was the first person to kiss me.”

“I – wow that’s a lot. I have kissed people before. I’ve had sex. Like a few times. Not loads of times.”

“You could teach me!” Jester suddenly perked up, looking at Beau like she’d just saved her life.

“I could what now?” Beau asked, feeling suddenly a little nervous.

“Maybe the problem is that I’ve never kissed anyone so I’m super bad at it but you’ve kissed people so you could help me so it wasn’t so bad!”

Beau blinked repeatedly, letting the statement process. On the one hand, Jester was definitely pretty attractive and Beau was very gay. On the other, kissing her straight co-worker felt like a really bad idea just overall. She looked at Jester, at her wide pleading eyes and sighed. “OK, sure, I guess we could try?”

“Thank you so much Beau! Can we start now?”

“I, uh, yeah sure?” Beau said.

Jester leaned in and pressed her lips against hers in an awkward bump of teeth and lips.

“Hang on.” Beau stood up and pulled Jester out with her, their meal already paid for. “It’s a lot easier when there isn’t a table in the way.”

Beau put her hand around the back of Jester’s head and pulled her in, taking control of the kiss. She kept it light so the other girl didn’t get overwhelmed, the faint taste of cinnamon from the bear claws they’d both eaten mixing through both of their breath.

She retreated, looking at Jester who stood there with her eyes still shut. She opened them slowly.

“That was a lot better than kissing Fjord. Hey Beau? Can we maybe do that again?”

“I – ok?”

Jester was the one who initiated, deepening the kiss. Beau guided her through it, opening her lips. Jester started slightly as their tongues met but seemed to relax into it, holding onto Beau like Beau was her lifeline.

Eventually Beau broke the kiss, stepping away from her friend. “We – uh – we do actually need to go back to Gilmore’s now.”

Jester nodded and followed her back in silence. Fjord looked up as they came in, his eyes falling on Jester. She was looking at Beau, barely even glancing in his direction.

“Hey, man. We’re back. Gil out again?”

“Yeah,” said Fjord in his heavy Texan accent. “He went out with Vax about twenty minutes ago. Molly just left but Gilmore asked if I’d take the afternoon shift to help you two. Is everything OK?”

“Sure, sure, everything’s good. Everything’s great.” She went to the back and pulled on her apron, Jester still sneaking glances at her whenever she looked away for more than a second. She felt guilty. She hadn’t meant to complicate things more for her friend but it seemed like she’d made things worse. Particularly since Jester had just told her that she had literally no relationship experience.

“Hey, Beau?” Jester said, shattering the silence.

“Uh – yeah?”

“I was gonna show you earlier but I forgot but I drew a picture of you. Here.” Jester handed her a piece of paper.

Beau unfolded it carefully. Her face had been carefully etched into the page, smiling and blushing like she did whenever Vex winked at her. It was actually really good. It was obvious that Jester had spent a while on it.

“It’s kind of amazing, you know?” she said.

“What?” asked Jester.

“Just that you were lonely and I was lonely and I just shut people out and got mad but you learned how to make beautiful shit like this. Thank you, Jester. It’s. It’s really fucking good.”

Tears were bubbling up in her eyes again, and she swiped at them with the back of her hand.

“I’m glad you like it Beau. You looked super happy and I thought it would make a really nice picture.”

“It did, Jes. Thank you.”

She refolded it carefully, tucking it into the pocket of her jeans.

As she turned to leave, Jester caught her arm. “You’re kind of amazing too, Beau. I wish I knew myself as much as you know yourself. I hope that we can be super good friends, because you’re really inspiring to me.”

“Thanks, Jes.”

She left Jester to finish sorting herself out and joined Fjord.

“You know, man. You break her heart I will fuck you up.”

“Who? What?” he asked, looking startled.

“Don’t worry about it.” He’d realise soon enough.

******

Fjord’s party was thankfully just the people she knew well. Jester, Caleb, Nott, Yasha, Molly and Cad had gathered around playing cards with Fjord half joining them. The others – Vax, Vex, Pike, Scanlan, Keyleth, Percy, Grog – their big friend – and Taryon – Percy’s boyfriend – had commandeered the other sofa and seemed to be having some kind of reunion shit going on. Gilmore was apparently coming but wouldn’t get there for a bit. She settled down next to Jester, peeking over her shoulder at her cards.

“What’re you guys playing?” she asked.

“President. I’m doing super good you should come on my team.”

“Yeah, sure.”

She settled down.

“She’s not winning. I’m winning.” Nott glared at the two of them, her hand significantly smaller than Jester’s.

“Technically, yes. Technically Nott is winning but I think she might be cheating.”

Caduceus nodded before Nott’s elbow met his arm and he immediately stopped.

“I think both she and Cad might be cheating,” said Molly, his tail flicking.

Jester leaned close to her. “I’m also maybe cheating a little bit,” she whispered. “Molly and I have a secret tail language that no one else knows. Caleb and Nott are magic whispering to each other because they have a spell and Caduceus is lying for them. I don’t know if Yasha is cheating. Also I technically might have flirted with her a little bit because she’s super cool but I know she’s married and if she wasn’t you called dibs.”

“You flirted with Yasha?” Beau asked, completely forgetting to whisper.

“You weren’t meant to say it out loud!” Jester exclaimed.

“I thought you were straight,” Beau said, dropping to a pretty loud stage whisper without really caring.

“I thought about it and I was like maybe girls are cute and maybe I’m not that much into guys and I guess I did technically enjoy kissing you a lot more than kissing Fjord and then I saw Yasha and I was like woah so I don’t think I’m straight. Also I tried whiskey for the first time and it tastes so bad.”

Beau blinked, processing, as they continued to play cards. Jester liked girls but Jester liked Yasha and Jester didn’t like Beau but why did it matter that Jester didn’t like Beau because Beau didn’t like Jester. It was all getting way too high school, she was pretty sure she was meant to be well past this stage of her life of who likes who and who kissed who. She returned to reality just in time to see Nott play her last card and cheer, throwing her arms up in the air. Of course, cards came pouring out of her sleeves and Jester began accusing her of cheating. Nott threw a cushion at Jester, Jester grabbed one and threw it at Nott. Beau found herself caught in the middle of a pillow fight and damn was she good at pillow fights. She snatched a cushion and began batting it at Yasha, who simply raised an eyebrow before hitting Beau with enough force to leave her sitting on the ground. With a cushion, landing on a cushion but fuck was Yasha strong. Lucky fucking Zuella, with that tank of a wife.

Jester came over and pulled her onto her feet. “I think we might be done with cards now. Also even though I technically was cheating a little bit I think Nott was cheating worse so we won.”

“Does that mean we get a prize?” Beau asked, unfamiliar with the stakes they’d set on the game.

“Technically? No but we do get to call ourselves presidents for ages and ages and call Nott the butthole.” They walked over to where Fjord had pulled out packets of crisps and began sharing one. The others were mingling outside of the two groups which had formed. At some point during the chaos, Gilmore had arrived and he and Vax were sharing a drink and laughing in the corner. Beau was pretty sure she saw Vax kiss his cheek which was sort of progress. The weeks of awkward pining had been annoying, any longer would be way more than she could handle. Nott was swiping food randomly on her tip toes, the table about the same height as her.

“So Yasha huh?” Beau asked, desperately trying to make conversation. “That’s your gay awakening?”

“I mean I think technically it was Vex when I walked in and saw her cause she’s like super pretty and I’d never really seen a woman who was that pretty apart from my mama and that would be really weird but I just didn’t realise for a while and then after we kissed I maybe went on the internet a bunch and got super confused so I talked to Caduceus and he was super helpful and talked about when he realised he was ace and when he realised he was gay and that was really nice and good and I thought about things a lot and was like I don’t think I actually like Fjord and maybe I do like girls and then I saw Yasha and was like woah I definitely like girls.”

“You could have come to me – you can come to me if you ever want to talk about this stuff.” Something hurt at the flow of words from Jester. It felt wrong, felt selfish, to hurt at someone figuring themselves out but it did. Beau didn’t look up. The floor suddenly looked super interesting. Jester’s gaze hung heavy on her, like it was burning through her.

“I don’t like like Yasha. Or Vex. Like they’re both super cool and pretty but I don’t like like like them. You don’t have to be jealous.”

Beau looked up at that. “I’m not jealous. Why would I be jealous?”

“I don’t really know. There is someone who I do like like like like a lot though.”

“I hope they like you back,” Beau said, that odd heartbreak burning through her.

“I don’t know if she does. She keeps saying stuff that sounds like she doesn’t but then I look at her and she’s looking at me and I get hopeful but then she doesn’t say anything.” Jester was staring at her with something intense in her gaze, something that looked like it was piercing right through Beau. “I’m pretty good at reading people though so I think maybe I’m right to be hopeful. What do you think, Beau?”

Every single word felt like a gun, ready to go off at any moment. “I think that anyone would be lucky to have you like them. You’re pretty awesome, Jes.”

She realised that they were staring into each others eyes. The eye contact had gone on way too long but somehow she felt unable to break it.

“I think I’m going to kiss her, if she’s OK with it?” Jester said. She was frozen, halfway between a motion looking for any sign from Beau.

“I-I think she’d be more than OK with – mmph”

Jester kissed like she’d been thinking about it for a long time. She made eye contact with Caleb who shot her an uncomfortable looking thumbs up which she responded to with her middle finger before letting her eyes fall shut and kissing Jester back like she’d been waiting for this since she first showed up outside the café.

As they pulled away, Jester grinned at her – that familiar mischievous smile. “See? I knew it was meant to feel like being alive!”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr user lavorregard  
> twitter user alphabetray  
> taking comissions  
> comments are my fuel


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